


Last Straw

by Beth Harker (Beth_Harker)



Category: Newsies (1992)
Genre: M/M, refuge au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-29
Updated: 2015-12-29
Packaged: 2019-09-29 20:59:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17210855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beth_Harker/pseuds/Beth%20Harker
Summary: David is in the Refuge. Snyder is trying to break Jack.





	Last Straw

**Author's Note:**

> David in the Refuge AU. Assume that both David and Jack were caught around the time In the film where Jack had David pinned up against a wall and was telling him that he knew nothing about   
> jail.
> 
> Trigger warnings for prison brutality, and mention of injuries.

David’s body was stiff and painful. The wounds on his back from where Snyder had whipped him had scabbed so that they were the color and texture of dried leaves. Moving around too much made them open and tear. That’s why he was just a little bit too slow getting out of the cafeteria after breakfast, and why he caught a glimpse of Crutchy, who had the job of clearing away the trays.

Human kindness was frowned upon here. Soon Crutchy’s left arm was piled high with platters and metal bowls that he needed to try to balance while hobbling along with his crutch and a pair of legs that were in worse shape than they’d been in before the Delanceys had captured him. In any other place David wouldn’t have hesitated to help him, but here he did, knowing that it would cause problems for both of them. It was only when Crutchy’s leaning tower of porridge bowls leaned a little too far and went clattering to the ground that David scurried over to help him. Nobody was watching, but they’d notice when David was late to the woodworking class he’d been enrolled in.

“Hey, thanks Davey,” Crutchy said, with a wavering smile that didn’t mask the fear in his eyes.

David nodded tersely.

“Since you’re here anyways,” Crutchy started. He dropped his voice so that David had to move in closer to hear him. “We gotta talk about Jack.”

Another nod from David. He started to walk with Crutchy, carrying the bowls. He’d get in trouble for this, but at least if he had them, he could try to convince somebody that his purpose had been to assist his friend, and not to listen to whatever whispered information Crutchy was about to bestow upon him.

“Jack’s in a bad way. Snyder’s trying to break him.”

David tried not to wince, tried not to fidget. “Well yeah,” he said past the lump in his throat. “It’s kind of obvious.” David had reason to know. Snyder had spent three days punishing David for everything that Jack had done wrong while the other boy looked on, and it had become clear soon enough that Jack could do nothing right no matter how hard he tried. 

“He’s succeeding,” Crutchy admitted. The first time that David had managed to get a few minutes alone with Crutchy in the Refuge, Crutchy had tried to give him a five minute introduction to the place and its inhabitants, in the tone of somebody sharing the greatest gossip he’d ever heard. He sounded nothing like that now. His voice trembled, and there was no hint of hope or happiness in his face.

David wasn’t sure that he wanted to know.

“What’d he do?” David asked anyway.

“Nothin’, except he ain’t let Jack sleep in four days. Not a wink. He’s got guards watching him to make sure he don’t.”

David waited for Crutchy to continue. He felt like he hadn’t slept in about a week either, but intellectually he knew that he woke up groggy, achy, and confused each morning, so sleep had to be happening.

“He tried to get some water from the pitcher by his bed this mornin’, but he dropped it, and he just started sobbing like a baby. Jack! I never seen him cry at anything, and now he’s crying over spilled water.”

David bit his lip. He tried to imagine it, then he tried to unimagine it.

“He said there were spiders crawling all over the walls and the floors,” Crutchy added.

“I need to go find him,” David said. Snyder had only just started to lay off of David, but that didn’t change the fact that he needed to find Jack and see for himself what was happening. He didn’t see much point in behaving, anyway. He’d tried that at first, and it hadn’t gotten him anything approaching fair treatment, let alone leniency.

“What have you got? A death wish?”

“That’d be one way out of here,” David muttered. He looked down away from Crutchy’s worried expression. “Look,” he said. “I’m not going to do anything stupid or drastic. I just need to get to Jack.”

“How much time you got left?”

“A week, unless my family magically makes bail. Not that I’m saying I want them to. I need to get to Jack, and that’s only going to work from the inside, so…”

David trailed off. He blinked hard. He took a breath

“I was thinking earlier today,” David continued, “that I might be able to do something once I get out. I want to bring this place to the ground, but I can’t just let them torture Jack while I’m here. It is torture. They have to realize that. It wouldn’t be allowed at adult prison. I’m sure there are laws against it.”

They were nearing the kitchen now. David would have to explain himself to the staff in there, and then another dozen people, if any of them let him get a word in.

“Good to know you won’t forget none of us when you get out,” Crutchy said. Maybe he was trying to muster up his usual optimism, the same way David was trying to muster up his usual common sense.

“Here,” David said instead, “Take these and go in without me. I’m going to see if they’ve got Jack in his cell.”


End file.
